Jackson Via
Elementary School
For Jackson-Via Elementary, Charlottesville City Schools wanted to keep the wayfinding system simple, accessible, and welcoming, with a focus on building community and school pride using the school’s Jackrabbit mascot.
Client
Charlottesville City Public Schools
Architect
VMDO Architects
Location
Charlottesville, VA
Scope
Wayfinding, Signage, Environmental Graphics
Celebrating Diversity
Each area of the school is defined by a color and a unique jackrabbit design made up of geometric tangram shapes. All the different jackrabbits act as a metaphor for the school’s diversity, celebrating difference while forming one cohesive community. The strong identifying colors and distinctive jackrabbits also create a clear wayfinding system by readily differentiating corridors in the building’s somewhat disorienting symmetrical plan.
Encouraging Collaboration
The tangram motif moves beyond the jackrabbits and is carried throughout the school’s signage. Each corridor includes a breakout space with dry-erase and magnetic boards and sets of moveable tangrams for students to interact and create with. The tangrams help the younger students learn their shapes and then extend that learning to more complicated problem solving and critical thinking.
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